I appreciate your intellegent opinion on Rondo discussions. Always nice to read a credible & reliable opinion from someone like you. There are couple of people in this forum worthy to read too but sad to say the trolls and the wannabes destroyed this site. I will confess I missed your thread and post so much.

For now, I hope (Boston.com - Celtics fans) here has an opportunity to read your thread and respond before someone destroy & bully this discussion. Thank you very much Sam.

First of all, I never got an opportunity to wish all the best to this board, and everyone on it, for a wonderful 2013.

Che, I got word you mentioned my name on this board, wondering about my take on Rondo. I don't know which thread it was on, so I'm taking the liberty of starting my own thread to respond. Actually, I'm just posting something I wrote on my own board. Granted, it was written before the Celtics lost Barbosa, but that really didn't affect my thinking on the matter. So here goes:

Juggling Chairs and Balls This is a Boston Celtics message board. You remember the Celtics. Through the years, they've arguably been associated with team basketball more consistently than any other franchise. They've won as a team. They've lost as a team. For better or worse, almost never have their fortunes been tied mainly to one player, despite a fairly constant procession of superstars and hall-of-famers through their ranks. They've never had a league scoring champion, but they've had plenty of league assist champions. The Celtics’ collaborative approach to basketball is so deeply engrained that it qualifies as a tradition.

Consequently, it really bothers me when I see any one Celtic player singled out as THE source of positives OR negatives associated with the team. With the Celtics, it’s NEVER just one player. And that has never been more true than in the case of Rajon Rondo.

The current question making the rounds should not be whether the Celtics are better off with or without Rondo. The question
should be whether the Celtics are better off with the type of play they’re now employing—whatever mix of factors has brought it about. Clearly, the answer is yes. And I understand that there’s a natural inclination to play the blame game.

But there’s usually more than one factor involved in everything that happens to the Celtics. And more than one factor is affecting their new style of play. As BobH and others have noted, the defensive improvement began well before Rondo was lost for the season. I’ve been bellyaching all season long because the offense was so stagnant. Was that solely due to Rondo, or was there some reason beyond his control that made him pound the ball outside? Is Rondo responsible for motivating his teammates to move without the ball, move the ball, and space the floor well…or is that Doc’s job? Should the players new to the team have made more of an effort to get into the swing of things, or were any such attempts hampered by the complexity of the defense and the aforementioned stagnation of the offense? You can bet your life that all of those factors, and others, played a role in a season that seemed to be going nowhere until Rondo (and, shortly thereafter, Sully) left the team.

So what has been responsible for the very quick turnaround in the past four games? Is it simply that they could be better off without Rondo? That’s not the constructive way to look at it.

Have you ever played musical chairs? Every time a chair is removed, what happens? The remaining participants become more alert and anticipatory, and you can see them ready to pounce at any moment on the chairs that remain. They become increasingly invigorated by the adrenalin the diminishing number of chairs is blasting through their bodies. Things become more simplified, as there are increasingly fewer chairs on which to concentrate. Out of the corners of their eyes, they watch their opponents for any advantage on which they can capitalize.

Right now, the Celtics are both the victims and the beneficiaries of a game of—let’s call it musical balls. They’re all good athletes; they know how to play the game; and they have the capacity to play team ball—Celtics ball. But now, their immediate goals (or roles) have become magnified, simplified, and clarified. And guess what has happened. The ball game has changed, and there are now just as many musical balls as players, so they can forget about concentration on the scarcity of balls and play with the abandon and freedom associated with rewarding collaboration.

Yes, it happens that the loss of Rondo was arguably the most pervasive that could ever have been inflicted on this team. It wasn't that he unilaterally did a lot of hardheaded, bad things. I believe he tried very hard (and understandably became sporadically disillusioned about the lack of success). And, as he searched for ways to be a better leader, he got into some habits that proved counterproductive; and his teammates accorded him greater deference as the team became increasingly Rondo-centric. It turned out that he was both a victim and a partial cause of circumstances.

Ironically, it is the very magnitude of Rondo's loss that has ultimately resulted in better focus, motivation, anticipation, circling of the wagons, and readiness to capitalize on opportunities. And hopefully, it has driven home to Doc the fact that this is a virtual blueprint for the manner in which the game should be played in order for a team like this to succeed—with or without Rondo. And, when Rondo returns, and depending on how the musical chairs are arranged next season, here’s hoping the lessons now being learned will continue to guide their play—with Rondo being the one who is asked to fit in as one of the team leaders rather than being given the independent mantle of lord of the manor. Go Celtics! And take care, everyone.

Slippery Sam Sam's Celtics Forum

Sam

Please go back to your board, you quit on this board and took all your freinds with you.Your actions almost destroyed this board.

I took a look at your board and it looks like an old age home bingo group.

Wow, what a lot of responses! I respect them all, and I got a good refresher in my motivations for taking the course of action I did a couple of years ago. Don't worry, runrunandrun, I'm going back to my own, very civil and convivial board. Although we don't play a lot of Bingo, you are correct that our board does include a lot of maturity—especially basketball pedigrees (Jerry Tarkanian was a member for a long time)—as well as a lot of considerably younger people. The important thing, I guess, is that all the generations represented in our forum usually get along well enough so we can focus on making interesting points rather than on berating one another.

I hadn't originally intended to stay here longer than to answer Che's question and say hi to my remaining friends. It was certainly not my intent to get into the middle of what is obviously an ongoing battle about the merits and faults of Rondo. I hope at least some of you will remember my main message was that the only constructive way to look at this situation is not to be preoccupied with the pros and cons of Rondo. Whatever dynamics were involved, the team's system of play has rapidly morphed in a very positive direction, and that's where my focus is.

Here's hoping Doc, Rondo and the rest of the remaining team members (and any new ones Danny adds) can and will embrace the new style of play on an ongoing basis. It's fair to debate whether or not Rondo can live within those constraints. As for my thoughts on the matter, I'm more in the "hoping" business than the prediction business.

A word to Che. I believe you're in the Boston area, aren't you? We always said we'd split a bottle of sake some time. If you're ever interested in doing that for real, email me at SlipSamCelt@aol.com.

I always respond to messages. So this will be my finale on this thread unless someone addresses me personally in a new message.

Sam - I might as well let you know what I think of Rondo's discussions. My indication on Rondo's issue was when Allen left. I'm pretty sure this was an old issue, it was addressed but went to Rondo's way. Another indication was when Barbosa made noises on the ball handling issue and I thought he's looking to leave. - I like Barbosa very much. So, I blamed on Doc & Ainge and this issue matured and the chalkboard locked into Rondo's way. It takes 5 to win a ball game. I hope they learn a lesson.

I shuttled between two places. I live in Connecticut & Florida. Last year, my family setup another business at Key Largo. It's an industrial business for Marinas. I like it here very much, i don't plow & shovel snow. They send me in Brazil sometimes ( i hate it there). On summer, I will be back in the Northeast and will try to contact you. Beside sake, I will bring u some sapporo-asahi & kirin beer.

There's no iconic status. I'm just a guy who"s been a rabid Celtics fan since 1950, joined the BDC board in 2005, and was a board member for about four years. I'll always be grateful to BDC for getting me started on a Celtics message board because I never thought I was the "message board type" (whatever the heck that is).

After a bunch of us became totally disenchanted by troll activity, we formed our own message board called "Sam's Celtics Forum," which is dedicated to convivial and knowledgeable conversation. Some of those who went with me also continue to be active on this BDC board.

I guess we've had something like 250 members, but there are probably more like 50-75 frequent contributors from around the country and abroad. We have our share of skirmishes, but the important underlying factor is that we respect one another, even when we disagree. We even have three friendly Lakers fans among our members. We have occasional parties (so far in Boston four times, San Francisco twice, and New York City).

I view our forum as having been time well spent because it has evolved into far more than a chat room. It is also a virtual mutual support system, in which we occasionally rally around a member who's having problems—including talking our treasured friend Jeb through the last year of his life (including raising money for him) and establishing a Sam's Hall of Fame with Jeb as the single Charter Member (with a trophy to boot).

My board name pays homage to Celtic legend "Slippery Sam" Jones, who has been a close personal friend since 1967. I'll be seeing him and Gladys for lunch or dinner in April. He got me into the famous "Balloon" Lakers Final Game of 1969, and I wrote a 32-page booklet about the experience of traveling, living, and partying with the team. You can find the booklet on our site (under "Sam's Writings") without any need to join. Or you can email me at SlipSamCelt@aol.com and I'll email you a copy. There's no charge, and I don't sell people's email addresses.

I know our forum wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea, and I appreciate that many people prefer a more contentious atmosphere. Different forums meet different needs. I also realize some people will dump all over this explanation, which is their right. All I know is that I'm a perpetually happy Celtics fan at nearly age 76, and that's good enough for me.

I think the BDC Celtics Forum deserves all sorts of credit for pioneering in the field, and it's a pleasure to drop in occasionally (as I'm still technically a member) to say hello.